I suppose that we have all told a lie at some time in our life, or have been deliberately misleading. Most of us have discovered that the truth usually becomes apparent sooner or later, and we've decided that telling lies just doesn't make sense for us, and it usually causes grief for both the teller and the believer.
As we can see from history, though, a lie that is outrageous enough, repeated often enough, in enough different ways, can gain acceptance… especially if it comes from people we should be able to trust… from those we would like to be able to trust.
Most of us now know that those were outrageous lies, giant deceptions, started by a few people. Some other people were forced to repeat the lies, and many others repeated them because they had a vested interest in the lie being accepted.
Once an outrageous lie is repeated often enough, from enough sources (many of whom know it to be a lie, and many who stupidly believe it), it takes on a life of it's own… it becomes "common knowledge". Once that level has been achieved, it will likely take many decades for the lie to be revealed.
Once a lie has been accepted as "common knowledge", those who disbelieve it will be outsiders, and they are often shunned, laughed at, ridiculed, even hated, sometimes murdered for their disbelief in what seems to be a "fact". Recall the terms "Jew-lover", "Nigger-lover", and "Indian-lover"?
Reaction to an outrageous lie… a manufactured threat will vary among the population.
One of the insidious, unseen causes of huge-lie perpetration comes from organizations that we trust, such as governmental groups, industry groups, political groups, and charitable groups. The hidden force in such groups, that causes them to help in perverting the truth, is individuals within the group trying to build a career on an issue. A single leader-spokesman of such a group, who repeats the lie, can make it seem as if the group, in its entirety, endorses the lie. Such a phantom endorsement carries a great deal of weight, not only among members who trust their leaders, but among other groups.
Existing groups who jump on the bandwagon, endorse the lie, and help expose and fight the "threat", will find their membership and contributions growing, which will reinforce the "truth" of the big lie.
Often, a competition arises among groups to see who can be strongest in support for the big lie, and groups who don't jump on the bandwagon will be labeled as "soft on XXXXX" or "anti-XXXXX", and will experience the shame of not helping to "fight the deadly threat".
Special organizations will appear, designed specifically to "fight the threat".
Scientific groups, some of which may be respected in their fields, will find that government money is now available for research to "prove" the big lie, and that no money is available to disprove it. Fearing for their continued existence, they naturally look for evidence to support the lie, ignoring evidence that may refute .
New quasi-scientific (Junk Science) groups will appear, grab government grant money, and with little pretense at science, produce supporting "evidence", knowing that it will not be questioned, for many reasons.
Eventually, individual businesses will become part of what has now become a "social issue". Business establishments banning Jews, Negroes, and Indians were at first rare, then quickly became almost mandatory.
Activists will appear from nowhere, both individuals and groups, pressing for more and more government action, and for individual support among the public. Their rhetoric, in which activists specialize, will become more and more radical, will revolve around emotional appeals… shame and guilt, and usually be presented by use of children, an emotional appeal that few of us will not be moved by… regardless of the truth.
Legislators, fearing for their political lives, not wanting to be labeled "soft" on any threat, being influenced by group power, and perhaps having some vested interest, are all too glad to leap on the issue with both feet… competing for the position of "leading the fight against XXXXX"
School children will not be ignored in this fight against XXXXX either. Curriculums will suddenly be modified to teach "the truth" about the threat. Groups of school children will be paraded and praised for their project to disseminate the "truth", and they will quickly respond to the propaganda, praise, and fear by carrying the message home to their parents as "fact".
During this great campaign against the threat, facts disappear completely . In the struggle to be most-involved, information rapidly becomes exaggerated, twisted, spun, taken out of context, and simply fabricated when the "truth" is not strong enough to justify the means being proposed to fight the threat. Lies are repeated, enhanced, and become "fact".
Eventually , the lie will die. Eventually, the truth will become so glaringly apparent to all that we will all hang our heads in shame at having been so gullible… we may wonder how we could have known , we may become disillusioned at not being able to trust those we want to trust, and we may try to make some sort of compensation… but the terrible damage will have been done, irreparable damage, damage that nothing can compensate for.
How can we avoid falling for the outrageous lie?
How can we prevent the outrageous lie from ever getting started?
Are we currently falling for any outrageous lies?
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